


The Way We Fall

by dollylux



Series: The Way We Fall [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Blow Jobs, Closeted Character, Comeplay, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Meetings, M/M, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 06:35:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2682818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollylux/pseuds/dollylux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unexpected guests at the Ackles' Thanksgiving dinner. Jensen's life will never be the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way We Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Exaggerated_Specificity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exaggerated_Specificity/gifts).



> Unbeta-ed again. Happy (late) Thanksgiving, y'all <3

Mac has a tendency to take in strays.

When she was little, it was rescuing bugs. One-winged moths, grasshoppers missing a hopper, ladybugs that couldn’t seem to get off the ground. When she was a little older, she moved on to pets. The dog that followed her home, the bunny that got hurt by the neighbor’s cat, Jingle Patsy. And in school, she befriended the quiet kids that no one else talked to, the ones who were maybe a little more fragile than the others.

When she moved away from Dallas to Austin to go to college, she continued her time-honored tradition by bringing friends home for the holidays who had nowhere else to go.

This Thanksgiving, Mom had gotten the call that she was bringing three home: Carlie, Jared, and her new boyfriend, Evan. Mom had just smiled into the phone and said okay, and Jensen could see her trying to mentally recalculate all of her recipes right there.

Now it’s the big day, and Mac is on her way over with her friends. The game is playing loud on the TV, his dad and his brother leaning forward to watch it with beers in their hands, eyes unblinking and hyper-focused. Jensen is sitting with them, feeling a little overdressed in his sweater and corduroys, and feeling a little caught between worlds like he always does.

He likes football, he does, but he doesn’t love it in the same way Dad and Josh do. He’s always wanted to go into the kitchen and offer his help to his mom and his aunt Darla and Mac, to at least do dishes and wipe down the counters while they talked about the goings-on of the members of their family, recounted stories from when they were younger and grilling Mac about boys. 

Now aunt Darla has Thanksgiving with her wife’s family and Mac lives in a different city, Mom is on her own with all the cooking duties. Jensen wants to go in and help her so badly, wants to start talking to her and finally blurt out his truth, the one he’s been holding in for going on five years now, the _Mom, I’m gay_ truth.

But _men don’t help with Thanksgiving dinner_ in the Ackles house, and so Jensen stays right where he is. 

“Moooom, we’re here!” Mac’s voice is audible even over the noise of the game, and Jensen flies to his feet, a grin already plastered on his face. The front door opens and there’s a flurry of blonde and cableknit and Mac is in Jensen’s arms, hugging him tight in her thin arms. “Jensen.”

“Hey, Macaroni.” He hugs her hard, ducking his face for just a few precious seconds into her hair before he pulls back, giving her a warm smile and a kiss on the forehead. “I thought you were bringing people with you? Mom’ll kick your ass if she made extra and you changed your mind.”

“Oh, they’re on the way. They were petting your car. Or Evan and Jared were.”

“Petting my--”

“Dude, who’s Nova is that?! That is so sweet.”

Jensen can’t contain his proud smile, and he lifts his head to claim his car, but every single bit of oxygen gets sucked out of the room when he sees the man behind the words.

The guy’s a good few inches taller than Jensen who isn’t really a small guy, and he’s wrapped up in a zip-up hoodie and a scarf, shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes, and two dimples winking when he lands his grin _right_ on Jensen.

Jensen just blinks, a deer caught in hazel headlights, and he’s overly aware that he’s staring, that Mac is watching the whole thing go down, that the guy is getting closer and closer until he’s just a couple of feet away.

“...I, I-I, u-uh. Um.”

“It’s Jensen’s car,” Mac translates patiently, curious blue eyes staying on her brother. “Jensen this is my friend, Jared. Jared, this is my brother, Jensen.”

The door closes, two other bodies appearing behind Jared, but Jensen’s eyes are locked, focused, probably forever. Jared is staring right back at him, dimples out like weapons.

 _Jesus fucking Christ._

“Good to meet you, Jensen. Gorgeous car out there.” There’s a hand engulfing his, and Jensen barely has the mind to grip and shake it. Mac introduces the quiet girl with beautiful dark skin and long dreads as Carlie and the guy with short red hair and a UT Austin shirt on (whose eyes are already on the TV) as Evan, her boyfriend. Jensen tries his best to smile at them, to seem welcoming, but he keeps glancing over at Jared who hasn’t moved, who hasn’t let anyone get any closer to Jensen, who has his hands in his pockets and his eyes not on the game, but on Jensen.

Evan settles in on the couch next to Josh after the briefest of introductions, and Mac leads Carlie into the kitchen to meet Mom. Jensen is left standing alone with Jared, and his hands are shaking when they slip into the pockets of his carefully-rugged jeans.

“S-so, um. Do you wanna sit down and watch the game? I can get you a--”

“Let’s go see if there’s anything they need help with in the kitchen.” Jared doesn’t wait for approval or permission, just reaches out to give Jensen’s bicep a slow squeeze before his long legs are taking him straight into the kitchen. Jensen follows in what can only be called a scamper, desperate to stay close, not to let anything happen with Jared that he’s not there to witness.

Mac introduces Jared to his mom, and Jared doesn’t hesitate to wrap her up in a big hug and kiss her cheek, two things that has Jensen gritting his teeth in jealousy over. Mom shoos Mac and Carlie out after they ask if they can help, and Jensen watches them retreat upstairs to Mac’s room. 

Jared is peeling his scarf and his hoodie off, leaving him in a perfectly faded, perfectly snug Foo Fighters t-shirt. He claps and rubs his hands together, surveying the kitchen around him.

“Okay! I’m here to help. What else needs fixin’, Mrs. A?” 

“Boy, get in here and watch the game! She’s got it!” That’s Josh, and it makes Jensen tense, his eyes cutting over to Jared who is busy rolling his own, giving a shake of his head that makes his shaggy hair move in the sexiest, most annoying way.

Jensen’s hands tighten into fists in his pockets.

“My mama would kick my butt if I came over here and didn’t help. Me’n’Jensen are here. Tell us what to do and we’re gonna do it, m’am.” Jared puts his hands on his narrow hips and waits, a charming smile on his face that his mother just can’t resist.

Mom sighs and glances around, looking honestly grateful for the help and only putting up the barest of fights before she has Jensen peeling potatoes that Jared then has to cut into cubes for mashed potatoes. Jensen pushes up his sleeves and grabs the peeler, thrilled to finally be in here helping after all these years at the defiance of his dad and his brother, at the side of this boy who doesn’t seem to give a shit what men are and aren’t supposed to do in the Ackles house.

Jensen kinda likes him.

“So, is your family not having Thanksgiving this year, Jared?” Mom finally asks after he and Jensen work side-by-side for several long, quiet moments while Jensen gathers up his courage to talk to him. He flushes when his mom beats him to it, glancing over at Jared who is carefully cubing the potato that is dwarfed in his big hands.

“Naw, they are. Mama wanted to rent a cabin up in Aspen, and a big snowstorm came through there last night and is still goin’ strong. My flight got cancelled. Mac took pity on me and asked me to come here.” Jared glances over when Jensen hands him another newly-peeled potato, their fingers grazing for the briefest of moments but it makes Jensen’s heart race.

“I’m sorry to hear that, honey. I hate that you don’t get to be with your family today.” Mom gives Jared’s back a little pat as she walks by, filling up a big pot with water to put it on the stove for the potatoes. 

“Oh, it’s alright. There are fifteen Padaleckis in that cabin right now, and honestly, I’m grateful for the break. It’ll be nice to have a small dinner and to get to know y’all. Thanks for having me. I really do appreciate it.” Another glance between Jared and Jensen, and Jensen realizes now that they’ve moved closer, their arms brushing every once in awhile, the heat coming from Jared’s skin unbelievable. 

“Are you a sophomore like Mac?” There! Jensen finally said something. It was even intelligible and a question!

“Senior. Majoring in computer engineering.”

Jensen pauses in his peeling duties, his eyebrows flying up. 

“Wow.”

Jared cuts a grin over at him, giving a shake of his head to get his hair out of his eyes. 

“Yeah? You like that?”

Jensen lowers his gaze again to the potato, his cheeks heating but he’s smiling now.

“Impressive. Never would have taken you for a brain.”

“Yep. Beauty and brains. Amazing, isn’t it?”

“You could be the next Miss Texas.”

“You’re just trying to flatter me now.” 

“Do you have a girlfriend, Jared?” Mom is stationed at the island, snapping green beans, and Jensen can feel her eyes on them. He keeps his focus on his work, dreading the inevitable answer to this question. He passes Jared another potato.

“No, m’am. Sure don’t.” He doesn’t elaborate, doesn’t offer anything else, just keeps cutting the potatoes into what Jensen realizes now is probably perfectly-spaced cubes. Fucking computer engineer. Amazing.

“Too bad Mac’s got a boyfriend,” Mom says quietly, conspiratorily, so the guys in the livingroom don’t hear. “I bet you two get along real well.”

Jared smirks and drops a handful of potatoes into the waiting colander before resuming his chopping. “Yeah, we’re good friends. She’s an amazing girl. She’s got a good head on her shoulders.”

Mom gives a long-suffering sigh behind them, and Jensen barely contains the urge to roll his eyes.

“Why can’t she ever date a good guy like you? And it’s like pulling teeth getting Jensen here to talk about anything in his life. He’s never brought a girl home for me to meet on Thanksgiving.”

Jensen feels the words like a finger poking in his back, and he blushes, shame and guilt sliding cold through his veins.

“Mom,” he sighs, “can we please not do this this year? Please?”

“I hope Mac warned you about me. That I eat about as much as a good-sized horse. I mean, this all looks like enough right now, but I don’t really know what the rest of y’all are gonna eat.” 

That shocks a burst of laughter out of Jensen, and he gives Jared a quick, grateful smile while Mom giggles over her green beans.

Maybe this Thanksgiving won’t be so bad after all.

 

\---

 

Dinner lasts for nearly two hours, full of several conversations going at once, about a literal ton of food, the constant checking of football scores, and Jared’s eyes finding Jensen’s every minute or so across the table, and it seems that Jared knows exactly what Jensen needs at any given moment, whether it’s a smile or a sympathetic wince or a wink or a goofy expression to ease the tension out of Jensen’s shoulders.

Mac and Carlie offer to do dishes, and Mac forces Evan to dry them, so Jensen leads Jared outside past the new game on in the livingroom and out into the yard. It’s chilly out, both of them in an extra layer as they head across the yard and toward the empty street, neither of them in a hurry or walking too far apart from the other.

“So, do you live here in Dallas?” Jared tugs on his scarf until it’s a little looser around his neck, his boots scuffing on the pavement. Jensen zips his jacket up over his sweater and sinks his hands into the pockets, forcing himself not to watch every single thing Jared does.

“Yeah. I’m a PT at Baylor.” It sounds so boring and, well. It kind of is. But he’s so used to revealing the bare minimum about himself, to sticking to the broadest of descriptions so nobody tries to press closer, to find out more.

No wonder Brandon left.

“Ah. I bet that means you give damn good massages.”

Jensen blinks out of his downward spiral of self-flagellation and glances over at Jared in surprise. His laugh is helplessly charmed.

“I mean, I’m not the best ever, but… I’ve never had any complaints.”

“Hmm. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

They’re walking so close now that they’re leaning on each other a little, and Jensen’s unknowingly leading them to the playground of the elementary school a couple of streets over from his parent’s house. He glares at the jungle gym when it comes into view. He’d broken his arm falling off that damn thing in the third grade. 

“So, do you have roommates, or do you live alone?” Jared walk a few steps ahead to the swingset, and he settles into one of the swings that is hilariously too small for him. Jensen can’t keep the smile off his face as he takes the swing beside Jared’s, letting his Conversed feet drag over the damp woodchips that make up the ground.

Well, here goes nothing.

“I do now. Up until a week ago, I was living with my boyfriend.”

Jared had been trying to swing, to crunch up his beautifully long body to get some movement, but he stops completely now, all of his attention on Jensen. Jensen can’t even begin to look over at him.

“What happened?”

Jensen shrugs, the light in his eyes dulling. He tightens his grip on the cold chain of the swing, eyes on his own feet.

“He left. Said he was sick of me and how ‘emotionally unavailable’ I am. And also that I was nervous about bringing him home for Thanksgiving.”

“You’re not out to your parents.” It’s not a question, but Jensen shakes his head anyway.

“I have this on-going list of things I’d rather do than tell my parents that I’m gay. The most recent addition was ‘slide glass splinters under my fingernails. While I’m on fire.’”

Jared stays quiet, and Jensen keeps his head down, teeth sinking over and over into his bottom lip that is bitten and chewed raw. The evening is closing in slowly around them, pulling any lingering heat from the air and edging shadows up around where they’re sitting on the swingset.

Jensen can’t remember the last time he’s spoken to a single person so much.

“So you’re here,” Jared starts, his voice soft, low, “having dinner at your parents’ house, and you’re having to pretend that you’re okay, that you’re not heartbroken. That nothing’s different.”

“I’m pretty much used to that,” is the only thing Jensen can think to say back. Jared is moving beside him, shuffling his feet until he’s closer to Jensen, and he rests his head on Jensen’s shoulder, all that soft brown hair brushing Jensen’s cheek. Jensen closes his eyes and inhales deep, letting it out in a slow sigh. The world seems empty, utterly silent, and it’s comforting for once instead of just being downright terrifying.

It’s dark by the time they make it back home.

 

\---

 

Because God either loves him or hates him, Mom decides that Jared is going to bunk with Jensen in his room tonight. 

After smoking a bowl, eating way too many leftovers, and watching _Wayne’s World_ and _Total Recall_ , Jensen, Jared, Mac, Evan, and Carlie decide to call it a night. 

Jared follows Jensen up to his room, and Jensen feels like a virgin on prom night with the way his heart is racing.

Jensen changes into his PJs quickly and starts to make up a pallet on the floor for himself while Jared is in the bathroom getting ready for bed. Chill out, Ackles. Chill out. Just because he sat beside you on the couch and basically snuggled with you, just because you ended up stretched out on the floor with your head tucked on his gorgeous thigh doesn’t mean he wants your ass. He’s a nice guy. Just be grateful you even get to pretend and _pull yourself together_.

Jared knocks politely on the door, and Jensen has to try three times before he can find his voice to tell him to come in.

He walks in bare-chested and in grey sweatpants, and Jensen’s whole world just kind of stops.

“I should have warned you before. I burn up, like. All the time. I have to sleep at least with my shirt off or I won’t be able to sleep.” He’s got his jeans and t-shirt clutched in his big hand and his eyes on Jensen, and Jensen is staring at one of Jared’s nipples, at how hard it is and how he can see the goosebumps pebbling up around it, the few scant hairs circling it. 

He blinks.

“I sleep with the window cracked,” he manages.

Jared grins.

“Perfect.”

Jensen takes out his contacts and doesn’t bother with his glasses, just crawls under the blankets on his makeshift bed on the floor, decidedly not watching Jared stretch and flex and tense and all that other pornographic stuff he’s doing while he climbs into bed.

Jared flicks the lamp off and leaves them in darkness, and neither of them speak for a long moment. 

Jensen turns on his side away from Jared, pulling the covers up over his shoulders to his nose, his eyes falling closed. It’s easy tonight to tell himself he’s not sleeping alone, and the comfort of hearing Jared’s breathing is profound.

“Jensen?”

Jensen’s eyes open into the darkness.

“Yeah?”

No movement from the bed, but Jensen can hear every single breath Jared takes.

“Do you miss him?”

Jensen grits his teeth, fingers tightening around the blankets. He takes a minute to let the question seep in, luxuriates in being able to talk about this, to be able to answer honestly.

“I don’t know if I miss him so much as just… being with someone. Having somebody. You know?”

“Yeah, I do.” More quiet, the slow, deep sound of Jared breathing. _Even his breathing is sexy_. “Well, he’s a goddamned idiot. And he’ll regret letting you go. But you can’t take him back, you hear me? He doesn’t deserve you.”

He doesn’t tell Jared that Brandon will never want him back, that it was over between them long before that evening when he came home to Brandon packing, that he’d always known it wasn’t going to last. He doesn’t tell him because his heart is too busy racing for the feeling in Jared’s voice, with the conviction in it while he says those things.

“I won’t,” he finally promises, his voice a whisper.

“Get some sleep, beautiful.” It’s so quiet that Jensen thinks maybe he just imagined it, that he’s already dreaming and his mind indulged him and came up with that word. But Jared is shifting behind him, settling into the bed and letting out a long yawn before he falls quiet.

“Night,” Jensen breathes, still staring through the dark across the room at his closed door. He doesn’t sleep for hours.

 

\---

 

Jensen regretfully informs Jared after a L’eggo and orange juice breakfast that the day after Thanksgiving is also the day of the Putting Up of the Decorations at the Ackles house. Jared just grins and offers to go up into the attic to fetch the tree.

Jared and Josh wrestled the tree into a recognizable tree-shape, and Jensen and Evan are tasked with putting the damn lights on, a job Jensen loathes but is somehow always stuck with.

“There need to be more lights on the left, Jensen. No, right there. Just--yes. There.” His mother is sitting on the couch, sorting Christmas ornaments, directing this like she always does while Jared and Josh watch them. Mac and Carlie are setting up the snow village on Mom’s hutch, dusting off the little ice skaters and placing them just so. Jensen glares at them enviously before he obeys his mother, loading up the apparently barren space with more lights.

“Hey, I think you’re missing another spot,” Jared chimes in, sipping on his apple cider, a long, helpful finger motioning low on the tree. Jensen doesn’t glare at him because Jared is special, because he’s sexy and he warmed up Jensen’s syrup this morning and he didn’t make fun of all the sugar he puts in his coffee and because he somehow gets along with Jensen’s family.

And he called Jensen beautiful.

“No, no, lower.”

Jensen leans down even lower, trying to zig and zag the lights to fill in the space so--

“Lower,” Jared repeats, his voice dropping the tiniest bit, in a way that maybe just sounds innocent over the strains of Bing Crosby coming from the speakers, but Jensen hears it. He straightens up immediately and looks right at Jared, catching the way Jared’s eyes are trained on his ass.

Jensen’s eyes widen just as Jared’s meet them, and his cheeks flush hot when Jared grins at him mischievously. 

“You got it.” Jared winks at him, hiding his smile now behind his mug of cider. 

Jensen floats through the rest of decorating time, maybe bending over a little more than necessary, but who can blame him?

 

Dinner is chilli that Jared makes and that Jensen helps him with, acting as the brave taste-tester to determine how hot the chilli should be. They all camp out in front of the TV again, this time watching _National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation_ until Dad is snoring in his recliner and Mom has to drag him up to bed.

The bedtime ritual is much the same as last night except the tension’s a little higher between them, the looks a little more lingering. 

Lights off, window cracked, and Jensen’s on his back now, staring up at the ceiling, listening to Jared breathing.

“Jensen?”

“Mmm?”

“Are you mostly a top? Or a bottom?”

Oh, Jesus.

“I, um,” he murmurs, a hand slipping under the covers and under his shirt to rest on his own stomach, rubbing it in slow circles. “Depends on a lot of things, I guess. But I prefer to bottom.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath and some movement on the bed, and Jensen bites down on his bottom lip, closes his eyes, and listens.

“Why?”

Jensen breathes out a quiet laugh. “Because I like dick in my ass?”

“Yeah,” Jared grits out, his voice gravel low. More movement, the slide of skin against cotton sheets. “Why else? You can tell me.”

“I guess I like to give up control for awhile,” he admits, his eyes finally falling closed as he sighs. “Letting someone else take charge of my body. I can turn my mind off and just fall into it. I like being held down sometimes and just used. There’s just nothing like it. It’s like flying. Because you just have to let go and let it happen.”

“When was the last time he had you? That stupid bastard who left?” 

“Three days before he left.”

“Did you always make him wear a condom?”

Jensen is surprised by the question, but the husk in Jared’s voice, the steady movement from the bed tells him to answer him, to just go with it. His own fingers come alive again on his stomach, pushing down under the waist of his pajama pants, of his underwear. 

“Always,” he whispers.

“Anybody ever come inside of you?” Jared is breathless now, moving fitfully on the bed, and Jensen knows he’s jerking off, that he’s got one of those big hands between his legs on what Jensen can imagine is a pretty massive, juicy cock, and he’s getting off on what Jensen is saying. Holy fucking shit.

“Not yet.” Jensen runs the flat of his palm against his own trapped dick, fingers sliding down to play at the head, to rub at his aching balls. His hole twitches hard, but he ignores it for now. He licks his lips again. “Why, Jared? What are you picturing right now? What are you thinking about?”

“Coming inside of you,” Jared pants almost immediately, like he was waiting for the question. Jensen can hear it now, the filthy slick of cock, that wet, delicious sound of Jared jacking off that makes Jensen’s mouth water. “Being the one you want inside of you. The one you let come in you for the first time. Inside your tight ass. Thinkin’ about… about you being mine.”

“Make your hand tighter, Jared. I’m tighter than that.” He’s talking out of his head now, his hand wrapped around his own dick and his hips are lifted and he’s soaring on the sounds Jared is making, the low grunts, the little whimpers he can't keep in, and he knows somewhere in the back of his head that they can’t fuck here, in this house, that they could probably wake the fucking dead together.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Jensen. _Fuck_.” 

Jensen listens to him come while he fucks his own hand, listens to the violent shudder of Jared’s body and all those sounds he tries so hard to contain, to quiet so nobody else in the house will hear. 

He’s open-mouth panting now, free hand plucking at one of his nipples, and he jumps when he feels Jared’s fingers bump against his mouth. He parts his lips for them immediately, draws them right in and moans when he realizes that they’re dripping with come. Hot, fresh come. 

“Clean ‘em off, babe. Lick all that come up. Christ, Jensen.” Jared’s fingers are stroking over his tongue, sliding in just deep enough to make his gag reflex kick in before they ease up the slightest bit. Jensen comes sucking on three of Jared’s fingers like they’re a cock, his own stomach covered in warm stripes by the time he comes down again.

Jared’s laying on his side, fucking at Jensen’s mouth with his fingers, lazy and slow, like it just feels good to do. Jensen kisses the pads of them before they retreat, and he pulls his own shirt off to clean his stomach off.

They sigh at the same time, sated and pleased. They don’t say goodnight this time, but Jensen’s smiling when he falls asleep.

 

\---

 

Their first kiss is over coffee the next morning, approximately one minute before Donna comes downstairs. 

Jensen smiles all through breakfast, and Jared’s eyes on him is the best feeling in the whole entire world.

They volunteer to rake all the leaves out of front and back yards, and Donna incredulously hands them the rake and a handful of garbage bags, trying to figure out when Jensen became so excited about manual labor.

Jared gets his gloriously big dick sucked behind the shed, gets to test Jensen’s gag reflex again before he begs Jensen to come in his mouth in return. And if they spend an entire hour making out in the gigantic pile of leaves they made in the backyard, nobody has to know but them.

 

\---

 

After a dinner of sandwiches and chips that night, with everyone else in the livingroom playing Cranium, the two of them tuck together on the front porch swing, wrapped up in blankets and hidden in the dark quiet of the corner of the porch.

“I’ve been thinking,” Jensen says against Jared’s neck, his eyes falling closed when Jared’s fingers start to card through his hair.

“Hmm?” Jared’s lips close into a kiss on Jensen’s forehead, and Jensen lets out the softest, most contented sigh.

“UT Dallas has a computer engineering program, too.” He holds his breath and listens for Jared’s initial reaction, and he’s relieved when he feels Jared’s lips curl into a smile against his skin.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mm-hmm. And I know this great place you might be able to move into after you graduate. Maybe in the summer, before you start in on your masters.” He pushes his hands up under Jared’s hoodie and his shirt to get at bare skin, chilly fingers warming in the heat there.

“Tell me more about this place.”

“Well, it’s kinda small. Just one bedroom. But the mattress is new. And the other guy who lives there makes killer smoothies for breakfast. And gives some pretty spectacular blowjobs.”

Jared hums with interest, hand spreading out on the back of Jensen’s head to keep him tucked where he is.

“This guy sounds amazing. I think I need to meet him.”

“Does that mean you’ll think about it?” Jensen doesn’t lift his head but he listens, always listens. Strange that he already knows Jared so well, can gauge his reactions by his sounds.

“Does that mean that you’ll maybe let me call you my boyfriend?” Jared’s hand moves so that Jensen can lift his head, so that their eyes can meet. Jared smiles when Jensen just blinks at him, surprised and a little speechless.

“You want to be my boyfriend?”

“Only from the first second I saw you,” Jared replies, but it’s sweet, an honest admission. He cups Jensen’s cold cheek with his warm palm, thumb stroking over the plump of his bottom lip. Jensen smiles against the pad of his finger before Jared leans in and kisses him, soft and gentle and simple. Jensen feels so happy in this single second that he aches.

“Yeah. Yeah, you can call me your boyfriend.” He loves saying it, loves the immediacy of the word, the claim real and true between them. Jared’s grin is right against his lips.

“Good. Because your boyfriend will be moving to Dallas very soon.”

Jensen initiates the kiss this time, but they’re both smiling too hard for it to last very long. He sits up now, reaching down for Jared’s hand and lacing their fingers together.

“Will you come in with me? There’s something I need to tell my parents, and I want you to be there.” Jensen’s heart is already racing, but he’s feeling braver right now than he ever has in his life, feels like all of these long years of quiet, of secrets have been leading up to this moment. It’s time. 

“Yeah, babe. I’d love to.”

They untangle from each other and reach down to lace their hands together again, walking into the house without another word. Jensen doesn’t remember the steps it took to get from the porch to the livingroom, standing in front of his family, but he will always remember the strength in his voice when he says:

“Mom? Dad? Can I talk to you guys for a minute?”


End file.
